How does one survive on 1200 calories per day anyway??

I have been following this since August and lost 20 pounds. I think a key to success is exercising while you are on a a limited calorie intake. So on the days I am running 3 miles I can actually eat 1600 calories because I burn 400 running. On days I do not run or lift weights, I eat the same breakfast each day and eat the WW Smart Ones for lunch and dinner. Modest mid-AM and mid-PM snacks keep me from feeling starved.

Exercise is keeping me there. Remember to log "cleaning" and "walking", drink water and eat things with high calories less frequently. No bagel every day. Planning helps too. Scrambling to figure out what is under 300 calories while starving is not the answer. I could eat 300 calories while deciding what was for dinner in a heartbeat. Good luck :happy:

Hey, I was just put on an 1100 calorie diet by my doc 3 weeks ago and thought the same. But if you get some calorie burning in (pretty much every day activities burns calories), then you will have some leeway to work with your 1200. Now mind you I cannot stay at 1100 cause there is just no way, but I do manage to stay between 1200 and 1300 calories and if you do that, you will be fine. Let MFP set your goals and you still log in, plan ahead, and work towards keeping within that 1200 to 1300, you won't feel so frustrated. If you want to, I will request you as a friend so we can stay in touch and keep each other motivated. I hope this helps. :-)
Julie

If you're trying to do 1200 calories a day here's how:

Min Max
Breakfast 275 325
Snack - AM 75 120
Lunch 350 375
Snack - PM 75 120
Dinner 350 375
Total 1125 1315

Do a combination of minimums and maximums through the day to get to ~ 1200 calories. Plan ahead and pre-log your meals/snacks.

EDIT: Eat fresh vegetables, fruits (make sure to incorporate some raw veg/fruit into each day), whole grains, extra lean meats, low fat cheeses and limited nuts/seeds/extra virgin olive oil, flax seed oil or hemp seed oil (you still need you good fats)

Not impossible but you have to eat back some/all of your exercise calories. And, yes, you can lose 2 lbs/week eating your exercise calories.

If you are having a real struggle to keep to the calorie allowance then maybe its too low. I am sorry but I did not go through the whole thread so this may have been answered, but what did you set your target weekly weight loss to be and do you eat your exercise calories back?

If you are feeling hungry at 1200 calories, adjust your settings. There is no reason to eat so little that you feel hungry all the time.

How did you decide on the 1200 calories a day? Did you evaluate based on your current weight, height, bmi and activity level? If so and that is appropriate for where you are trying to go, not just arbitrarily selecting 1200 calores, then decide how you want to break it up and plan first....before I eat anything that I am not familiar with or decide that I am going to eat something I come on to the site and check it out first...I pull the food up in the database and check not only the calories, but also carbs, protein and fat...I let myself go over on protein on any given day, but try not to on calories, carbs and fat. Lately I have been finding that I am undereating and not being satisfied, getting hungry and tempted...so the planning part now for me is key. Just now, I wanted some ice cream, went on to the site, looked up where I was at and pulled up Kemp's ice cream and decided that a half a cup would do it for me and still stay within my plan. Start looking for ideas on things you can do for those calories...for me, shrimp and chicken work well...shrimp you can have a ton of (if cooked right) and not have too many calories...chicken depends on how it is cooked...more calories for roasted and such. but sit down and look for ideas...then you'll be prepared and have some standards that you know will work calorie wise and appetite wise and satisfaction wise...do you like things like hardboiled eggs, beans of any kind (black beans, refried beans, garbanzo beans, etc)....some of those things will stay with you longer and you will not be hungry. Good luck and let us know how you are doing. Friend me if you like and we'll keep in touch.

Very easily.....I eat 1200 calories a day - eating 6 small meals / breakfast/am snack/lunch/pm snack/supper and a late pm snack

I exercise 5-6 times a week and don't eat back my calories

Works for me

I have to agree! I'm on the 1200 cal plan as well, but I work out 5 times a week. With that said, if I have had a really really good work out that day (I usually burn between 500cals to 1000cals daily), then I'll go over my 1200 limit. But of course I don't eat too much over 1200 cals. I'm working towards 40lbs lost since May.

It takes motivation and devotion, but I strongly believe that if you want this bad enough, you'll eat right and exercise as often as you can. It really evens itself out!

Good luck to you~ :drinker:

I've been on 1200 for a few months now and don't find it hard to stick to anymore ( although th first two weeks were awful)
But I feel the need to up my calories now, as im working out more, so am aiming for 1450. Adding friends in the same boat so you can see what they eat will help. When I want to eat something that's not too healthy I try to only have half, then you don't feel deprived. I gave up biscuits, chocolate and crisps (chips) completely, and never drink carbonated drinks of any kind, but I still have room for some treats now and then. It's all trial and error.
Feel free to add me.

As weird as this sounds, it is kind of a mind game. Do stuff like to make you think that you are fuller than you actually are, especially because sometime the feeling of hungre is just boredom.
Drink ice water or tea (with 0 calorie sweetener) when you are feeling hungry, chew some gum, spread out low-calories snacks (each about 100 calories), when you have meals for some of them serve yourself only half of the serving size, so you can go back and get "seconds". Eat slowly because you will feel fuller with less food than you would if you eat quickly and over-eat and then go over in calories later because you are hungry again. Find ways to preoccupy yourself when you do feel hungry to know for sure if it is hunger or bordom.

One wants to thrive, not merely survive, which is why 1200 for an extended period of time is a bad idea.

Please do a forum search for In Place of a Road Map 2.0 and follow that. 1200 is lower than BMR for most people (the calories required to be alive and unconscious). It is a very bad idea to eat below your BMR for any length of time.

I did 1200 when I was new. It didn't work so hot for me. I didn't lose all that quickly and I was pretty miserable: which is a sign that what you're doing is a bad idea.

I used online calculators and later a BodyMediaFit and learned that I burn more than 2000 calories on a regular basis. So a 1200 calorie diet was very nearly a 50% deficit. Not good.

I went and had a bod pod done several weeks ago. I was amazed that my BMR was over 1400 and my TDEE (BMR with activity adjustment) was over 2000. This was based on a pretty accurate estimate of my body fat. I'm 5'4". You don't have to be very tall to need more food.

So find out a good estimation of what your maintenance calories are (TDEE at what you do) and then do a 20% deficit from there. Tweak a little one way or the other.

Don't do the 1200 calorie thing that's making you miserable. No need for it.

I tend to get lower calorie options, this doesn't seem to hurt me. I have been eating around 1200 calorie for months now and It doesn't bother me. I feel good and have lots of energy.

Before you decide to live on 1200 calories you should consider how many calories your body needs per day just to maintain your weight.

I use the mayo clinic calorie calculator and I need 1600 calories if i sat on my but all day. So eating a 1200 calorie diet isn't going to shock my body too much. If you needed 2000 calories at rest, then 1200 calories would be a different story.

I set my goal to be between 1200 and 1400 a day. I eat 5 times a day, normally 3 hours a part. small meals and rarely to I feel hungry.

I had to exercise to "earn" enough calories to satisfy my hunger. And a little planning helps. If I know I'm having pizza for dinner, then I need to have a low calorie lunch and save my calories for later.